Means for attaching buttons.



No. 640,896. Patented Jan. 9, i900 F. E. FORWARD. MEANS FOR ATTACHING BUTTONS.

(Application filed Oct. 22, 1898.) (No Model.) 1

ma'lg m: riunms PETERS co, wow-umu, WASHWGTON, D. c.

To all whom it may concern.-

nrrn *mrns ATENT OFFICE.

FRANCIS ED. FORWARD, OF THE I'IOLBERTON INSTITUTION, ISLAND OF ANTIGUA, BRITISH WEST INDIES.

MEANS FOR ATTACHING BUTTONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 640,896, dated January 9, 1900.

Application 'filcd October 2 Z, 1 8 9 8.

Be it known that I, FRANCIS EDWARD Fon- WARD, of The IIolberton Institution, in the Island of Antigua, British Vest Indies, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buttons, of which the following is a specification. 1

This invention has reference to means of attaching buttons; and its object is to provide means of attachment which will allow of a button being easily secured to a garment or other article withoutliability of becoming accidentally detached and will also allow of its being easily and quickly removed when required in order either that the garment or other article may be cleaned, as in the case, for example, of garments having pearl buttons, or that the buttons themselves may be cleaned, as in the case of metal buttonssuch, for example, as livery buttons.

My invention chiefly comprises the combination, with the stem of the button, of a shoe capable of revolving or turning on an axis or pivot at or near the free or inner end of the said stem in such manner that the shoe may either be made to take up a position parallel with and alongside the stem or a position at right angles to the stem, When the shoe is parallel with the stem, they can be passed together through the aperture formed in the garment or article to receive the stem, and the shoe may then be moved at right angles to the stem, and will thus securely hold the button in its place. When it is required to detach the button, the shoe is moved so as to be parallel with the stem, which can then be withdrawn, together with the shoe.

In the accompanying drawings, Figures 1 and 2 are elevations, taken at right angles to each other, of a button provided with means of attachment according to my invention. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of the same button, the stem of same being seen in elevation and the movable shoe being omitted. Fig. 4 is an elevation showing the same button attached to a garment or other article.

Referring to the drawings, a represents the button proper or button-head.

b is the stem, which is soldered or otherwise secured to the inner face of the head a Serial No. 694,274. (No model.)

and is made double-that is to say, of two parallel or approximately parallel stems, united at the free or inner end, so as to form a sort of loop.

o is the movable or revolving shoe. It is formed with a central aperture, through which the connecting part of the two stems passes, so that it can be moved either into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 1, so as to be parallel with the stem, or into the position shown in Fig. 4 and in dotted lines in Fig. 1, so as to be at right angles to the stem. When the shoe is in the former of these positions, the stem and shoe can be passed together through an aperture, such as that shown at d, Fig. 4, in the garment or article e.- When, on the contrary, the shoe is in the other or right-angle position, the button is secured to the garment or article and cannot be withdrawn. In this position the shoe has a certain freedom of movement, so that the button will adapt itself to any alteration in the position as the result of movement of the part of the garment to which it is attachec In order that the stem 19 may not be too long and yet provide a sufficient length of the shoe 0 to insure the secure holding of the button when in place, the button is made concave on its inner face, as shown, and the shoe 0 is made relatively broad at its middle and narrows toward the ends, which are pointed. A closer approximation of the button to the material is thus obtained, as the distance between the plane of the rim of the button and the edge of the middle of the shoe 0 facing the head 0t represents the actual length of the stem of the button when secured. The concavity of the button also allows of a longer stem, and therefore of a longer shoe, being used.

The shoe 0 may, as shown in the drawings, extend, when in its vertical position, close to the inner face of the head without interfering with the ready insertion of the button. In order to effect this insertion, it is only necessary to pass the shoe a vertically through the hole in the fabric and press the fabric down into the concavity of the head, when the shoe can be readily passed entirely through and adjusted in position transversely to the stem.

narrowing to a point toward the ends, all subto stantially as and for the purposes set forth. In Witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

FRANCIS ED. FORWARD. Witnesses:

CUTAH I-IOLMEISA COURT, G. A. MAOANDREW. 

